Deleting seemingly useless folders in Win7 ?

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

Darkst4r

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Hi, I've been using Win7 for a while now and am a bit confused as to why there are so many seemingly useless folders in the "user" folder that cannot be easily deleted. The main culprits are "contacts" ,"tracing","favourites" and "links". Now I know the links folder is useful for quickly accessing certain files and folders but how do I delete the rest without them being restored the next time I log off or restart ?

I like to have a fairly clutter free machine but these folders make it impossible.
 
This folder store is used for application data normally temp stuff, there's no need to delete anything here because you won't be storing directly into that root but instead in the subdirectories (My Documents/Videos etc for example).

I too like an organised system but this is a system area and you won't be able to just delete them.

Mine looks like this:

folders.jpg


The quickest solution really is to right click the Windows Explorer icon on your taskbar, then right click the Windows Explorer entry and choose Properties and make sure to add the path to your main documents location like how mine is mapped to another drive where all my documents are kept and a library store map set for them in pics/videos/music and documents libraries respectively.

Now when you click that Explorer taskbar icon it will load your "Documents" just how it used to in XP for example and bypass the default library view which is just annoying how it doesn't individualise folder views but shares a common view with all folders.

There's really no need to store data in the User location, use it for reference only but not storage. Store your data in their respective library stores.
 
Favourites store your IE shortcuts. Contacts for storing.. erm.. contacts. Not sure what tracing is for - I read it's because of Windows Live Messenger.

You could try to make them Hidden.
 
Thanks Khaaan!, that post was pretty helpful.

Sirius, hiding them isn't an option, you can check them as hidden but they do not actually vanish.

I dont use I.E so that folder is useless and if I want a folder to store my contacts I would create one myself, I dont see why Win7 should impose a folder on users that gets no use.
 
Well for one a LOT of people use I.E., so the Favourites folder is used. MS cater for the masses, not one person who is fastidious about the contents of system folders. :)

You have plenty of options to get around this as Khaaan has already demonstrated. Using Libraries is a great tool and you can create as many as you like. You don't even have to look inside the User folder.
 
Those folders are really there in that location because all those folders combined equals your user profile in its entirety. Copying everything there will allow you to back up your profile application and document data for example. I guess they've just decided it's the most logical place to put such data (which makes sense).

As I mentioned you should never have the need to access this folder unless it's for reference purposes or you want to do some other work. Your file and other stuff should always be stored in their own library locations :)
 
I get what you are saying but by default the "My Videos" "pictures" music" etc are all in that user folder so I just saved all my corresponding data to those folders within the user folder.

I guess the easiest thing to do would be to create a separate folder on my desktop and just transfer the files across, leaving the usless one behind, never to see the light of day again !
 
Again, as Khaaan has said, you can just move the location of various shell folders to somewhere you prefer. Libraries as you will know will work regardless of where the physical folders are.
 
Just keep the desktop clean, create the folder in the user location but pin it to the Explorer icon on the taskbar!

Then drag it to the favourite links area (left links pane) in Explorer so you have easy access to it in open/save dialogues.
 
Regardless of what some might try to tell you, Windows 7 actually makes desktop computing more efficient with the new features :p
 
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